Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Couple of ple have asked if DP is Jewish because of DS's name...

47 replies

zumm · 22/10/2011 20:12

...DS is a Jacob. Out of interest, would the name inspire you to ask this question? I know we've gone for an OT name but I'm not religious in the slightest and I just hope I haven't heaped a whole lot of religious baggage onto him.

Also, was leafing through a baby book on names - it states that Jacob tends to be used by Jewish families (the book is about 10 years old).

Is this really current consensus or have people's attitudes to the name changed now it's become so much more popular? To my mind it's akin to Daniel or Sam (which are not necessarily only used by Jewish families).

Worried also because he is quarter Indian, quarter French (my side) and half English (DP) so will I, through using this ?Jewish? name have confused the poor lad/attitudes towards his ethnicity even more?

It is driving me crazy.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Hassled · 22/10/2011 20:15

I wouldn't assume a Jacob is Jewish and know several who aren't. It's quite an old fashioned attitude, I think - 20+ years or so ago it was safe to assume an OT name = Jewish, but not any more.

In any case I can't see how it will confuse your DS.

Cheeseandseveredfingersarnie · 22/10/2011 20:16

i wouldnt assume anything about jacob over than its a lovely name

spottypancake · 22/10/2011 20:19

I would possibly assume that the parents were religious in some way. I wouldn't assume any particular religion though.

CaptainMartinCrieff · 22/10/2011 20:32

I'd assume you'd like Twilight.

I know it's a Hebrew name, as is Samuel, Daniel etc... But I wouldn't assume all Samuels, Daniels and Jacobs came from religious families.

CalatalieSisters · 22/10/2011 20:37

Noo. It's just a lovely Old Testament name. Jewish and also not Jewish. I know a couple of Jacobs, one Jewish and one not, and I wouldn't assume any religious reason for the name at all. One of my sons has an equally Old Testament name, not for any religious reasons at all.

tassisssss · 22/10/2011 20:42

I might wonder if your were a committed Christian funnily enough as many I know go for full-on biblical names like Elijah, Noah, Isaac etc.

nagynolonger · 22/10/2011 20:45

Three of DS school friends are Jacobs. None are Jewish and only one is from a church going family. It is no different to Daniel etc.

Lisatheonewhoeatsdrytoast · 22/10/2011 20:49

Mines is a Jacob/Jake and It's always assumed he's i'm jewish, however my maiden name was a jewish name and when searching the family tree we found in fact we were Jewish and it's believed the changed the surname slightly and stopped practicing etc when times got tough.

I see myself as Christian and i just love the name, my husband is protestant too :)

Marinn · 22/10/2011 21:12

I wouldn't think you were Jewish, Jacob has gone very mainstream. I wouldn't even think a Reuben was Jewish now but ten years ago I would have assumed they were.

thenightsky · 22/10/2011 21:18

Lisa your family history sounds very like mine... Jewish maiden name that was changed when it was a good idea to change it! Wonder how many of us should really be Jewish? How many of us have 'leaked' away like this?

LivingDead · 22/10/2011 21:20

I have a Jacob and I just love biblical names, I actually wanted to call him Nathaniel but was vetoed. Nobody has asked that question, but I suppose if we lived in an area with lots of Jewish people it might get asked more? Not sure really.

I wouldn't worry about it anyway tbh, I can't actually see any problem with someone wrongly assuming your ds is Jewish, what possible problems could arise? .

Fishpants · 23/10/2011 03:13

Jacob has been the number 1 boy name in the US for about 10 years. Nothing at all says Jewish to me.

Tortington · 23/10/2011 03:34

i have an 18 yaer old jacob - never been asked if he is jewish - as it happens my dad wass actually jewish

FearfulYank · 23/10/2011 03:56

What Fishpants said. Jacob/Jake is the most popular name here in our school (in the U.S.) and our town is overwhelmingly Catholic with a strong Lutheran contingent.

tryingtoleave · 23/10/2011 04:20

Jacob is also top ten in Australia ( or at least was a few years ago).

Before I had ds I would have assumed that a reuben, Seth or Isaac was Jewish, but then I realized that everyone was using those sort of biblical names. Are the people asking you older? They might not be abreast of name fashions?

comedaygoday · 23/10/2011 07:47

No, I wouldn't assume you were Jewish. Jacob is a lovely and very popular name.

Montsti · 23/10/2011 07:52

I think Jacob is now mainstream enough not to think that. However if you had another child with a perceived Jewish name then I would probably assume so...

DumSpiroScaro · 23/10/2011 08:00

It would register with me that it was a religious name, but I wouldn't necessarily assume that was reason for choosing it.

I know little boy called Reuben after a motorcross rider, and a Seth whose parents are very anti any kind of religion!

I doubt it will cause him any problems, and he can always opt for Jake when he's older if he feels the need.

Himalaya · 23/10/2011 08:29

I don't think there is a rule that OT names = Jewish.

I would tend to assume that a Reuben, Saul or Joel had some Jewish heritage. Jacob, Daniel and Samuel are fairly standard names already, Isaac, Nathan, Levi and Aaron would have been Jewish a generation ago, but are now generally fashionable. Then some OT names like Elijah or Jared sound to me like Protestant evangelical names.

There is a chapter in the book Freakonomics about names and it traces how Jewish names like Rebecca have become mainstream because Jews are seen as upwardly mobile, so it's an aspirational thing.

I wonder if you get that question because your DS's mixed heritage. If he is a bit dark but not obvious Indian looking, maybe he looks plausably Jewish. I think they are probably just trying to work out his ethnicity with the question about his name.

I am a non-obvious racial mix, but obviously not pure White English, and I have an Indian name. I always get people asking me where my name comes from as it's more polite than saying 'you've got a touch of the tar brush' (as they used to say...)

Both my DSs have OT names, as I think they travel well. One name to me sounds more Jewish than the other, but they never get asked because they both inherited DH's blonde looks.

It's a lovely name! Don't fret.

Ephiny · 23/10/2011 13:49

With Biblical names I might think the parents were Jewish or Christian, but not necessarily. After all so many OT names as people have mentioned are very mainstream - David, Jonathan, Sam(uel), Josh(ua), Elizabeth, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel etc.

I think this has changed in recent decades though. In one of Doris Lessing's books, there's a (Jewish) character called Sarah and when she moves to England her ILs refuse to use the name (calling her Sally instead) because they think it's foreign and heathen and therefore not 'respectable'. Of course by 1980 it was pretty much the most popular girl's name in the UK!

Original poster

zumm · 23/10/2011 14:09

Dear All, Very much appreciate your views on this - esp the advice not to fret and the positive comments on the name (my parents have been very neg about it - has caused me a great deal of anxiety).

Himalaya - you have hit it on the head (kid has darkish skin, blondish hair, so what is he? People wonder).

I guess it's because all my life I've been asked where I'm from (really, I do understand people are just interested - and their questions are never anything but friendly - but it just gets boring when it happens almost each time I meet someone new and it constantly reminds me of how different I am, ethnically speaking).

So I wondered whether his 'religious' name will cause others to constantly ask him of his ethnicity/religion. But, maybe they would ask anyway, regardless of his name. But I can't help thinking if I'd called him William or John (as general examples) he might have had an easier time fitting in.

I guess this is all to do with issues of my identity...

OP posts:

Himalaya · 23/10/2011 14:35

Zumm -

I think by giving him a slightly less standard English name you've done him a favour. It gives people something to ask and then he can decide how to answer, rather than people being curious but too polite and uptight to ask.

Sometimes people used to ask me 'where are you from' and I'd say, a bit militantly 'London' and you could see them squirming and thinking 'that's not what I meant', I have gradually learned that people don't mean anything by it, they are just curious, so I do answer the question.

BikeRunSki · 23/10/2011 14:44

i would not assume you are Jewish. DS has an Old Testament name, DD has a French name. We are English and Humanist! All names originate from somewhere.

Montsti · 23/10/2011 14:49

It's a lovely name and I would go for it if that's your choice. I have learnt not to tell my mother my favourite name/names as she always reacts negatively. Once the baby is born then there's not much they can do about it. My mum hated the name of DS when I mentioned it when pregnant and I still named him it and she kept quiet once he was born!

bemybebe · 23/10/2011 14:52

Lovely name. I would not assume a jewish connection. There is nothing wrong with being a jew either.

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread